One summer in Italy, two women find themselves being waved through roadblocks just because it never occurs to the police that women could be the criminals they seek. One says to the other, "any four women could rob the bank of Italy and get away with it while the police searched for four men." As this joke evolves first into an idea for a screenplay and then, unexpectedly, into the plans for a daring crime, a large cast of characters living in a Tuscan village move into action. Well-written, nicely paced, and full of laugh-out-loud passages.

Well written biographies of a handful of women. Noble,
tragic, clever, wise. What an eye opener this book is!
I recommend it to anyone trying to understand Italy

I was misled by Frances Mayes' name listed next to the author's.
She wrote only the introduction. This was not a colaboration.
The book itself was basically dry, boring, dated, plot-less and less than wonderful.
I think it was reprinted to "jump on the "Tuscany" bandwagon" of popularity. I could not recommend this book.

This very graphic and descriptive book opened up my eyes to the realities that many of our ancestors faced in their lives.
This compassionate woman described her time in a small town
in Italy in a sharp contrast to most books on the subject,
perhaps somewhat like "Christ Stopped in Eboli"
For the person interested in Recent Italian history, this book
will greatly enlarge your understanding of the plight of the southern italian.
if you are looking for romantic fluff, don't read this book.